Going by President Tinubu’s democratic antecedents, not even in my wildest imagination would I imagine that yesterday’s democrat would become today’s dictator. Dictatorship is what Tinubu spent his life fighting. Under President Olusegun Obasanjo, when a state of emergency was declared in Ekiti and later Plateau State, this same Tinubu, then a governor, condemned in totality the removal of the elected governors. The same Tinubu has turned around now as a President to do the very same thing he condemned. Careful analysis of the Rivers crisis and the solution the president is dispensing has left more questions than answers as to the real reasons for the unconstitutional removal of the elected government officials. Many have come to see the action as a mere smokescreen to take over the oil-rich state from the opposition party and also judge the action as an unfair taking of sides in the crisis.
The president no doubt attempted to mediate in the crisis, but with the unfolding events, it is quite clear what his motives were all along. When both parties met with him, the President, it was claimed, ordered both parties to withdraw all cases from the courts. The governor complied, but the 27 House of Assembly members did not. Tinubu looked the other way. Here, the governor demonstrated good faith by withdrawing the case, which gave the other parties ample advantage to get a one-sided judgment (since the governor was no longer represented in the name of abiding by the terms of the brokered peace). Of course, the judgment went in favor of the 27 defected lawmakers. Despite this, the Governor welcomed the lawmakers and towed the path of peace to implement every section of the court ruling, but the 27 lawmakers had other plans. They failed to meet with the governor, who was willing to present the state budget to them. Pronto, the same lawmakers who refused to meet with the governor despite issuing a two-day matching order suddenly met and issued a notice of misconduct against the governor.
The script was all too evident even ti the blind. The president, in his address, never made reference to these peace moves by the governor but went ahead to illegally suspend the governor, his deputy, and the legislature. Observers know that the real issue is not the governor versus the 27 lawmakers but the governor versus the immediate past governor and the present FCT Minister. If the President had truely wanted a resolution of the crisis, what does it take for the president to call his Minister to order? No!
The fact and reality on ground is that with this action of the President, democracy is truely dead in Nigeria. President Tinubu is like a chameleon changing his appearance from being a democrat to a dictator. He is becoming brutal by the day and will stop at nothing but to make Nigeria a one party state. Wike is a tool in his hand and the assignment and mission is simple. Vanguish the opposition Peoples Democratic Party as an enemy within the party. Mission is to hijack the oil rich state and the motive is 2027 reelection agenda. Pure and simple. To think that over the years, a man so evil deceived the whole world to make people see him as a democrat and a democratic activist fighting for democratic principles is appalling.
This same president as a senator in 1993 attempted recovening a senate proscribed by the military then just to portray he has no space for dictatorship but today, he has done worse that military regimes. He broods no opposition which is a trademark of the military dictatorship. Today, people dare not raise opposing voices. Protesters of the end bad governance peaceful demonstration were brutally crushed. The same Tinubu, shortly before he became President sanctioned the shooting of armless protesters at the Lekki tollgate for daring to protest police brutality. Dictators are always brutal with zero tolerance for dissenting voice. Like Emperor Nero, they can be fiddling while the city burns. That is why with the hardship his policies inflicted on the people, the galloping inflation, the unfavourable exchange rate, the insecurities, even a Yourh corper can not voice her frustration but must be muzzled. All dictator Tinubu care for is 2027 reelections. The citizen can die, be kidnapped and be ravaged by uncontrollable hunger. His concern is hold on to power with a rubber stamp National Assembly and a compromised judiciary as accomplices. That is why 2 whole years into his tenure, the only legacy is hardship and hopelessness. Prices of goods and services doubling and in some cases, tripling with the same income and worsening unemployment and insecurities.
In summary, many are silent today because all these atrocities favour their political party in power. I will not be surprised if many are sponsored against this write up or to report the page. It is a matter of time before the mafia President will have the whole of Nigeria groveling at his feet by the time he is through. Lagos State is already in his pocket. Nigeria is next. It is not the brutality of the oppressor that is the worst experience but the silence of the victims and those who ought to speak out.
Posterity is watching.
By Anthony Eshemokhai
A public affairs commentator
